School

When the second semester started in January, I began filling a long-term sub position for a middle school band director who is taking a leave of absence to deal with an illness in the family. I have a jazz band, sixth grade band, seventh grade band, and eighth grade band, each of which has an hour of rehearsal every day. Intense!

APS (Albuquerque Public Schools) is like other schools in which I've taught and also very different because of its immense size. Here are some facts:

APS is the largest school district in New Mexico. APS provides educational services to students in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Corrales, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, Tijeras, San Antonito, and Edgewood. Additionally, it serves Laguna and Isleta pueblos, Chilili, Tohajiilee, and the Atrisco Land Grant. Albuquerque Public Schools is also the city’s second largest employer, providing jobs for nearly 11,500 people. We are considered an urban-suburban-rural school district. We also are a widely diverse district, with more than a third of our students coming from homes where the primary language is not English.

Schools: 139
Students: 89,500
Teachers: 6,500
Employees: 11,500

15,000 students in 50 schools are receiving bilingual educations

More than 1 in 10 students are receiving special education services, including 1 in 20 who are receiving gifted education services

Students Eligible for Free or Reduced Lunch 63.9%
Percentage of English Language Learners 18%
Percentage of Students with Disabilities 14.4%
*Total number of students doesn't include charter school students.

Student Ethnicity
Hispanic 66.1%
Caucasian/White 22.7%
American Indian 4.2%
African American 2.9%
Asian 2.3%
Other (Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, etc.) 1.8%

The APS Homeless Project served more than 5,000 homeless students in 2008-09.
The graduation rate is 63.2% (closer to 80% if you count students who take more than four years to graduate).

The school I'm teaching in now is in the East Mountains, and has fewer English Language Learners than the schools in the city, which is helpful to me because I am just starting to try to learn Spanish. The principal is excellent and the teachers seem dedicated and caring. The teachers have laptops and there is wi-fi so you can take attendance and do your grading, but the band room has no smartboard or even a white board, no place to plug in my ipod or even a good stereo system. I forgot how much I hate chalk! The faculty and staff have been very helpful and friendly. And kids are kids, no matter where you go.

One major difference between APS and the small districts I'm used to, is that APS is so huge that it handles everything internally, they don't seem to contract out anything. For instance, I took some instruments to the district instrument repair shop! No kidding. There are two full-time repair people working there. On my way to the instrument repair shop, I passed the glazier shop, the small engine repair shop, the locksmith shop, the electronics repair shop, and so many more that I can't remember! It was amazing.

APS is adopting the Common Core Standards, and New Mexico is instituting new teacher evaluations, like many other states. The schools have Instructional Coaches, who are teachers hired specifically to teach and support the other teachers. There is a three-tiered license system with different base pay for each. Teachers are not required to have a masters degree in New Mexico, but a masters plus experience (or National Board Certification) will qualify you for a higher level license.

I don't know what I'll do when the long-term sub job I have ends. My lack of fluency in Spanish limits where I can teach (I'm pretty sure I didn't get one gig I applied for because of that, since they asked as many questions about language as about music at the interview). I might continue subbing or do something different. But for now, I'm enjoying being a band director!